This record of events was established in 2005 when our three person family was residing cozily in a downtown Tokyo studio. We have since grown to five members and after many wonderful years in the suburbs of Chicago, we've returned to Tokyo. My husband and I both work full time; my name is Jamie and I'm the author of this blog!
Hoping to speak here more in 2015.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

TMI re: First Bath

Here's the requisite photo of Izumi taking her first bath. You're so good at math, that's right, Izumi is already three weeks old here. And just now having her first bath?! Eeww...

Japanese friends are particularly appalled when they hear of Izumi's bathing schedule, I mean, lack thereof. When Japanese babies are born, they and their mothers stay in the hospital for nearly a week, and nurses bathe them every day. Once they're home, their mother (or more likely grandmother) takes up the bathing duties and executes them faithfully and usually daily, it seems.

But here we are in the good old U.S.A., where nothing but a sponge bath is recommended until the umbilical cord stump falls off. Now, what is the difference between a sponge bath and a little rub-down with a wet tissue as a sideshow to a diaper change? Not a whole lot, in my mind.

So as I was saying, the above photo is of Izumi in her first bath. What you can't see, as I've cleverly cropped it out, is the part of the bath that has newborn poo floating in it. Eeww again. But no problem, we just dumped that water, rinsed out the bath and started again. We're not terribly clever with reading Izumi's facial expressions yet, but it seems to me she enjoyed round two of her bath a bit more than round one.

Bonus photo, left: Koji, and Izumi accesorized with Aogu's finger, which she needed to remain calm for this photo shoot. Thank God, I am so grateful that to date, Koji is very loving and gentle with Izumi. May this trend continue for the rest of their lives!

About Me

Living my life half or more in Japanese while standing in the kitchen, wishing I could read at the same time unless I could be talking to you, and all the better if you and I really get each other and we laugh hysterically all the time